Re: [DML] How many Deloreans

[Louie G <louie@xxxx>]

It all depends on who you ask. I believe the traditional number is 8586. How that was calculated, I can't tell you. More recent studies by this very website show that there were likely more than 9200 produced. Check out the findings of that study here- http://www.dmcnews.com/faq/n_chron.htm There's a VIN list, build rates by month, options breakdown, and a map of the distribution of remaining cars across the US today. It's a great tool. 

The "last" DeLorean (VIN 20105) was one of the three American Express 24kt Gold DeLoreans... but it wasn't the last one to roll off the continuous assembly line. Instead this car was assembled from leftover parts after the factory had closed. 

Production began in April of 1981, and ended in December of 1982 (though continuous production really ended in August), VINs start at 500 and end at 20104 (this is sans the last Gold DeLorean). 81 VINs begin at 500 and end in the mid 7000s, 82s VINs begin at 10,000 and end in the mid 15,000 range, and '83s are from there on up to 20105. It's important to note that VIN numbers are not continuous, there were quite a few numbers skipped. Production itself wasn't continuous either because of DMC being placed in recievership, and the fact that in '82, the cars just weren't selling. The vast majority of DeLoreans were '81's (something like 6500), the '82s and '83s had build rates of 1000 to 1500 a year respectively. The majority of cars were grey-interior 5-speeds, with the minority being black-interior automatics. 

My preferred cleaning method is scrubbing the car down with a brush, and car soap, then drying it, and using the foaming windex in a can. The scrubbing gets the grain clean and sparkly, and the foaming windex gives the car a great shine, without the reverse effects I've found in the stainless cleaners. The stainless cleaners are expensive, leave greasy marks on other surfaces (such as glass), and sometimes leave a haze on the stainless. Hopefully I hit all your questions :-) .

Louie Golden
VIN 10115 (an '82!) Sanford, NC

--- "phoenix00622002" <barbara0892@xxxx> wrote:
>Whats the most accurate estimate of the total number of DMC12s made. 
>What was the last serial number and date? Also what is the best 
>method of cleaning and polishing?
>
>Barbara & AJ
>01550

_____________________________________________________________
See what you missed! Read the report on the 2003 DMC Open House Event at http://www.delorean.com/2003event.asp